The US FDA approved pertuzumab in combination with trastuzumab and chemotherapy for adjuvant treatment of HER2-positive early breast cancer, and converted accelerated to full approval for the regimen as neoadjuvant therapy in certain breast cancers.

Using a mouse model of HER2+ breast cancer, researchers tested the efficiency of combined epigenetic modulation and checkpoint inhibition using the histone deacetylase inhibitor ENT and antibodies for 2 checkpoint inhibitor proteins. These findings were presented at the 2017 SABCS.

[OncoTargets and Therapy] This research reviews available data on the role of the HER2 pathway in breast cancer and on the different targeted agents for the treatment of patients with early-stage HER2-positive disease, with a particular focus on neratinib.

In this study presented at SABCS 2016, investigators determined the association between higher TIL levels and overall survival in patients with advanced HER2-positive breast cancer treated with docetaxel plus trastuzumab in combination with pertuzumab or placebo.

Therapies targeting ErbB2 (HER2), such as trastuzumab (Herceptin), are often associated with cardiovascular side effects. ErbB2 was recently found to also be expressed by vascular endothelial cells, and is an example of how tissue growth and blood vessel patterning are integrated at the molecular level.

Women with stage 1 HER2-positive breast tumors who received a combination of lower-intensity chemotherapy and a targeted drug following surgery were unlikely to suffer cancer recurrence within 3 years of treatment.

The use of trastuzumab (Herceptin) as the standard-of-care treatment for HER2-positive breast cancer has been supported by the Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization (ALTTO) study.

HER2-positive breast cancer typically develops resistance to Herceptin within several years. researchers have found a means of inhibiting another protein whose expression is also upregulated in HER2-positive breast cancer.